An Empath's Life
by Agent-G
Summary: Oneshot that takes place during my AGU series during Adjustments. See the day in the life of Gale Hunter AKA Nightingale.


**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men: Evolution or anything related to it, any OCs like Gale Hunter AKA Nightingale, are mine.**

**AN: This takes place during the Adjustments timeline while Rogue and the others are at Town X, and this is a one-shot too.**

**AN EMPATH'S LIFE**

It was early morning at the Institute, and Gale Hunter also called Nightingale slowly stretched herself out. She was about sixteen and was from Canada Winnipeg, Manitoba to be accurate. She had been living with her father a doctor at a clinic that is until her mutation kicked in. Apparently her mother had been a low level telepath, but she had never known that, she had died in a car crash years ago.

She made her way to her bathroom thinking about that day. She had been a normal girl then she had seen herself in the mirror with a slightly new look. See looked in the mirror now and it was still weird seeing her hair and eyes the same blue color. She no longer had her brown eyes or her shoulder length light blond hair. Okay the eyes looked kind of cool, but the hair...she looked like an anime girl or something.

Her powers weren't exactly the most powerful either, just empathic and healing powers that she was still learning. In fact she had a meditation session with morning with Dani Moonstar, Jean Grey, and Wanda Maximoff. Wanda had joined in just for the mediation purposes because to help her control her anger. She was learning it to help her to control her powers so she didn't pick up on all the feelings she kept on getting, it wasn't easy and at times she found herself 'feeling' the emotions of others without realizing it and acted like they were her emotions.

She sighed, who would have thought being empathic had problems like that? She got ready and made her way to the kitchen. She had since given up on trying to beat out everyone for first shot whatever there was, in fact some of the students either slept in when they could to avoid it and only a few tried to beat out the few early risers. Of course there was plenty of food, although it was usually Ororo, Blink and Vincent who helped out in the mornings, but with Vincent gone they had to make up for the slack.

Blink already looked a little tired and guessed she had trouble sleeping. She picked up on her tiredness and figured she had nightmares in fact the worried feelings she was getting from Amanda most likely confirmed that. She had heard what had happened to the lavender skinned girl and was horrified by that. She couldn't believe that her parents had just gotten rid of her and the stories of those Sentinels didn't help matters either.

She and the other New Mutants had gone up against those in the Danger Room and they were horrible things. The HK models were roughly seven feet tall and looked like the Terminator on a bad day. What really sucked was that she had no offensive powers for something like that, or anything at all. Danielle was lucky, with the bow of hers she had a more offensive ability, Jamie was studying martial arts under Vincent and the little army he could make was able to handle it. Forge and her however was another story.

They both felt a little exposed, well that was until Forge used that arm of his to re-wire some of them to work for him, then it was just her. So far Logan had given her these razor disc weapons. One had sharp blades, that she was told Rogue once used, and the other was the same only those blades were blunted. She didn't like to hurt others since she was going to become a doctor like her father had been and she didn't want to use something lethal against someone.

However she had pretty bad aim with those things and Logan was trying to find her something else she could use in combat. That was fine with her, those blades made her uneasy as it was.

"Hey Gale?" She turned to see Jubilee had been talking to her and she hadn't noticed. "Ah that got your attention. So are you going with the mall with us today?"

Gale smiled, Jubilee was a born mall rat. "Sorry Amy asked to meet me in the park today for something."

"Oh a romantic getaway?" Amara asked her. Gale blushed a little, she was glad that everyone here was fine with the fact that she was gay.

"I hope so...lately Amy had been...I don't know...distant." In fact even though they had only been dating for nearly two weeks it was nice, but lately things between them were strange. Here Amy, even though was shy, seemed more comfortable around her but in public...she seemed to make an effort not to do anything too intimate and Gale was worried that Amy was afraid of having everyone know she was gay. In fact before that sleepover they had here the only other people were her younger brother Joseph, and her best friend Pam.

After breakfast she headed to Xavier's office for mental training exercises. She looked in and saw Dani, Jean were already there. "Come in Gale." Xavier said with a smile. She liked Xavier he was like the kind uncle to her and he was a wise and companionate man to her. "Wanda is having swimming lessons with Ororo at the moment so it will be just us."

She sat down in a chair next to Dani, the girl that could make you see your worst nightmares...literally. "Alright then, today we're going to test your mental shields and barriers then we're going to work on controlling your powers and then meditation to help you."

Xavier had so far taught them that not only had they to keep their minds secure while awake but also had to learn to put up barriers when they slept or their powers might activate while asleep. Jean had told them of how she had accidentally gone into someone's dreams a few times and now she had to keep those barriers up, especially now that she was more in control and powerful.

Dani knew about that personally. She had inadvertently done that only she had given nightmares to everyone in her small town for over a week. She was the reason her whole little town had up and left, and she felt bad about having done that and most likely always would.

Gale however was trying to learn how to shut out other people's emotions. She kept on getting bombarded by them all the time and she was getting a few headaches from it. Also a few times so far she too had felt emotions in her sleep and they affected her dreams. It was kind of weird because her dreams could constantly changing.

At least her healing powers weren't too difficult but they did leave her drained when she used them for too long or for too much, but that training was different since she only had to use it to heal others. Luckily in this place injuries were common place. She also learned that the more she knew about the human body the better and more accurate and faster she could heal and that took less energy.

She kind of preferred that training to this because it was more interesting to her, but she needed this. But at least this wasn't as intense as some of the other training though.

**-Bayville Park-**

After her training Gale had gone to change and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top since it was a warm day for the summer but knew it was getting close for the end of summer and school would start up again. She was hoping that she wasn't late, the mental training had gone on a little longer then she had thought. Gale had walked to the park and was hoping she wasn't late as she was looking around the park trying to find Amy.

The Park had a few people in it, mainly kids playing over by the baseball diamond or younger kids at the playground. There were a few teens but not many. Then Gale saw Amy and made her way to her for her meeting. Amy McKnight was sitting on a bench off away from everyone by a tree in a white t-shirt and skirt. Gale smiled at the sight of her, plus the fact that Amy seemed to be a girl that liked to wear skirts and if did show off her legs quite nicely she thought to herself. She walked up to the long blond haired and brown-eyed girl. "Hey." Gale said smiling.

"Hey." Amy said but her smile was more nervous then happy and Gale got a bad feeling in fact she was unintentionally picking up on a few of her emotions and she didn't like what she was feeling. Gale sat down next to her.

"What's wrong?" She asked placing her hand near hers.

Amy's face fell and took her hand gently. "It's...I...I'm sorry I can't keep doing this." She looked away and Gale suddenly got a very terrified feeling that she was talking about them dating. That and she sensed that Amy didn't like this either.

"But why? I thought...I though we were happy?"

"I was...for the most part...but Gale...you're wonderful but I'm not ready for this." Amy pulled her long hair away from her face over her ear looking over the park. "I'm just not ready to 'come out'. I just have to get comfortable with it and I'm not ready to go public yet...I mean I know how people treat others that are different I see it all the time with you guys...and...I don't want that...at least not until I know I can handle it. I figured you would want to be with someone that could be open with you in public"

Gale thought about it, and looking back on it Amy always did act like they were just friends or something in public while they only kissed or anything simple as holding hands unless they were at the mansion or no one else was around. "Are you ashamed of being gay? Cause there's nothing wrong with it." There was a hint of anger in her voice but she didn't care.

"I...I don't know...that's one of the reasons I don't want us to get to serious because I don't even know myself enough, and...there's another reason."

"What?" Gale asked her she was sensing something from her but wasn't sure. "Come on I know there's something that's really bothering you so what is it."

"That's it!" Amy said. "I hate the fact you know what I'm feelings all the time...it's creepy I mean I don't want my emotions known."

"I can't help it! I mean I'm still learning I don't mean too this isn't easy for me either you know!" Gale shouted feeling her eyes water up.

Amy looked at her in sympathy. "I know, I know, you've told me and I wish you didn't have to go through all that and that you had control...but it feels like an invasion of privacy to me...I...I just can't handle it. You know how much of a private and shy person I am and this...this just makes me feel uncomfortable, I'm sorry I don't mean to make this sound horrible I'm trying not to I really am...but I can't."

Gale could feel the emotions running off of Amy and knew she was hurting just as much as she was and she tried to shut off the surge of emotions but she was having trouble doing so. "So...you don't ever want to see me again." Gale said flatly.

"No I didn't say that...I just can't date you...or anyone at the moment. I'm just not ready." Amy then took her hand again with both of her hands. "But I did like the time we had...you were my first real kiss, me first real relationship...I just wish I was ready for one because I can't think of anyone else I would want to be other then you. And...I still want you in my life...but...only as my friend."

Gale slipped her hands away slowly, she couldn't force Amy to change her mind and she could feel the honestly coming off of her. "Is...is there a change that one day...one day we could pick this up again? When you're ready?"

Amy smiled a little. "If we both want to...I'd like that. But don't wait for me, I don't want to deny you any happiness you find." Gale could feel that was something she didn't want to say. "But...I do hope we can."

"So...that's it." Gale said and Amy nodded sadly. When Gale was walking back to the Institute she felt like she had just been run over and someone was scraping her off the highway. 'What is it with me and relationships?' She thought to herself. The first relationship with a girl had been a bad one, the second girl she liked and betrayed her and now her second girlfriend had just dumped her...well...more like broke up with her... so she guessed that was progress.

**-Institute-**

Coming back home Gale just wanted to go to her room and wither cry or just sulk...maybe both. She was walking up the stairs when Rahne came running over to her and from the feelings Rahne was throwing out she guessed that somehow she had learned it, then she remembered how she was seeing Amy's younger brother.

"Did she really break up with ye?" The young Scottish girl asked. Gale sighed and nodded, and Rahne hugged her, at first Gale didn't want to but she needed this and hugged the younger girl back. "I'm so sorry tae hear that. Joseph told me about it...why did she break up with ye?"

Gale explained the conversation to her and Rahne looked sad at the news. "How are ye doin'?"

"Honestly?" Gale asked. "Lousy."

"Come on." Rahne said grabbing her wrist and pulling her along. "I know what can help ye, I did the same thing when Berto and I split up." Gale walked with her to the kitchen and watched as Rahne got out two spoons and went to the freezer and got out a tub of ice cream.

"I little cliché don't you think?" Gale said with a small smirk.

"Aye...but it helps." Rahne said putting it down on the counter and Gale shrugged and started digging in. Not long after that Jubilee and Blink walked in and saw them.

"Hey what's up? What's with the ice cream?" Jubilee asked.

"Amy and Gale broke up." Rahne told them, instantly both girls felt bad for her.

Blink sat down next to Gale and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry, are you okay?"

Gale sighed. "Ask me again later when I get all my emotions in order...by then I should be an emotional wreck...then I'll get better."

Jubilee came in with two more spoons and handed one to Clarice. "Well I say it's time for some healing time with the girls. I say we pig out on this, talk about it until either we empty this thing or you feel better."

Gale laughed a little at her enthusiasm and it was nice to have her and the others trying to help her out in this. "What's going on in here?" They turned to see Dani Moonstar walked in with Lockheed on her shoulders, his tail hanging over her left shoulder and his head nuzzling her cheek a little on the other side while she scratched his chin. She was looking after the little guy while Kitty was out on a mission.

"Pull up a chair, we bonding here with Gale cause she just got dumped." Jubilee told the Native American girl.

"I wasn't dumped, we just broke up." Gale said defensively.

"Sorry." The Asian teen said to her. Dani sat down and joined in while also feeding little bits to Lockheed every now and then. Gale may felt like crap a few minutes before, but she was glad she had all these friends trying to help her out. This was one hell of a day for her but hopefully the next day would be better for her.

Her life sure had changed since she had known she was a mutant. It was more exciting, she missed her father and home, she had new friends, had a girlfriend and lost her, was learning all about medicine form Mr. McCoy who was a genius and liked helping out, learning to hopefully use her powers to help others...and she lived in a mansion with people just as unique as her. She looked over at Lockheed. And a little dragon and knew actual magic users, one that was possessed by a spirit named Ghost Rider, had mortal enemies, people who hated her because of her mutation and all other mutants.

Sure it was crazy...but it was her life now and for the life of her...she did like it.

**THE END**


End file.
